The Health Ministry on Sunday gave a go-ahead to the Baroda Medical College (BMC) with its proposal to tie up with South Florida University (SFU) to start a new Postgraduate degree course in Emergency Medicine.

BMC is among the only two institutes in India to have a collaboration with SFU for the course.

Students pursuing the two-year postgraduate course in Emergency Medicine at BMC will follow the syllabus devised by SFU. The course will be followed by a two-three week training at SFU at the end of the programme.

“Representatives from South Florida University had visited India in November and have shown interest in starting the programme at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi and BMC. This postgraduate course is equivalent to an MD degree,” said BMC dean Dr A T Leuva.

With the Medical Council of India (MCI) team in Gujarat this weekend,BMC had forwarded the proposal of the new course and put in an application with the Ministry of Heath,seeking infrastructural assistance.

“The proposal has been approved by the Health Ministry,but we need to set up the infrastructure and have to get the required teaching staff before the course can be started,” said Leuva.

While a postgraduate degree on Emergency Medicine will be the first-of-its-kind in the state,the Ministry of Health intends to extend the course in all medical colleges in future.

“We have a network of Emergency Medical Services available across the state. Such a course is essential for all doctors. This will help in effective management at the trauma centres,” said Gujarat Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas.